Your first campaign

This is the fast track. Follow it top to bottom if you want your first campaign live today. Anything unfamiliar along the way has a link to the full explanation — open them in new tabs rather than stopping.

Target time: 15 minutes from a prepared workspace to a live campaign. Setting up the prerequisites takes longer the first time — usually under an hour, or up to 2 weeks if you choose a Done-For-You custom domain (warmup time).

Before you start

Two things need to be in place. If either isn't, the campaign won't launch.

1. At least one sending inbox

Every email comes from a real email address. You need at least one set up before you can launch anything. Two options:

Option A — Pre-warmed inboxes (easiest for new users)

Inboxes that have already gone through 4+ weeks of warmupwarmup traffic. They arrive ready to send the same day. The domain is included — you don't need to own one.

1. In the left sidebar, click Cold Email Agent.
2. Click Email Accounts.
3. Click Add New Inboxes in the top right.
4. Pick Pre-Warmed Inboxes → Continue.
5. Choose your domains (each comes with 3 inboxes).
6. Complete checkout.

Full walkthrough: Buying inboxes.

Option B — Done-For-You custom domain

Choose an available outreach domain (e.g. yourcompany-outreach.com); we build the inboxes. Good for teams that want a branded sending domain. Takes about 2 weeks of warmup before the inboxes are usable in a campaign — plan ahead.

Same flow on Buying inboxes, under the DFY option.

Is my inbox ready to send?

An inbox is ready for a campaign only when all of these are true:

If any of these are off, see Warmup before proceeding.

2. A source of leads

The people you'll email. You can add more later, but it's easier if you have the data ready before you open the wizard.

More fields on a CSV (job title, company, industry, LinkedIn) means better personalization. See Import leads for the format.

Domain & deliverability — handled for you

On Acquisity-purchased and DFY inboxes, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and domain forwarding are all handled automatically. You don't need to touch DNS. Full technical detail is on Domain provisioning if you want to understand what's happening behind the scenes.

Pre-flight checklist

Before clicking New Campaign, confirm:

• Billing in good standing
• At least one inbox showing Active + green flame + 80%+ health
• Lead source ready — CSV file at hand, or a clear description of your target audience

If all three are ticked, you're ready.

Step 1 — Open the All Campaigns page

In the left sidebar, click Cold Email Agent. The page opens to All Campaigns, where every campaign in the workspace lives.

Step 2 — Click New Campaign

Click New Campaign in the top-right. The 4-step wizard opens.

Wizard step 1 — Name

Give the campaign a name you'll recognise in a list. Format suggestion: Method | Who you're targeting. For example: Podcast | UK SaaS CFOs.

Click Next.

Wizard step 2 — Leads

Pick how to get your leads:

• Acquisity Lead Database (uses creditscredits) — describe who you want, then the system finds and verifies emails live for matching contacts. Best if you don't have a list yet. Full walkthrough: Finding leads.
• Upload Your Own (free) — upload a CSV. Best if you already have a list. Full walkthrough: Importing leads.

For Acquisity Lead Database, check the filters and lead preview before confirming. When you click Next, the Add Leads To Campaign dialog asks how many leads to import. The default and minimum is 500 leads. In standalone Acquisity, already-owned campaign leads are removed from the available count before import; with Instantly connected, duplicates may only be blocked during upload. A progress screen then tracks the scrape.

For Upload Your Own, upload the CSV and map the columns before moving on.

Wizard step 3 — Write the sequence

• Leave AI Generated selected (it writes the sequence for you).
• Pick a method:
  • Podcast — recommended for most audiences. You invite prospects to be on your podcast.
  • Interview — similar, but framed as an article or video.
  • AI Business Audit — you offer a free AI review as the opener.
  • Direct — a straightforward pitch. Needs real case studies with real numbers.

Click Next. The Writing Your Email Sequence progress screen appears while the AI drafts the sequencesequence.

The AI draft can include several variantsvariants for a step. Review every active email before sending. In the current AI-generated flow, that review happens on the campaign's Sequences tab after the campaign draft is created.

Wizard step 4 — Finalization

Tick which inboxes should send from. All eligible ones are ticked by default. For a first campaign, choose deliberately rather than accepting every inbox by habit.

Click Create Campaign. A Launching Your Campaign progress screen shows the launch steps. Wait for it to finish.

If you turned off Launch campaigns automatically once the setup is complete, the campaign opens as a Draft with a Launch campaign button. Review Leads, Sequences, and Options, then click Launch campaign only when you're happy for emails to start.

If auto-launch was left on, the campaign can move to Active after final setup completes.

What to check in the first 24 hours

After launch, click into your campaign. Three tabs to watch:

Expect a partial first day or two. Campaigns launch mid-schedule, leads import in batches, and newly warmed inboxes increase their volume gradually, so day-one counts are lower than the campaign's steady daily volume. A small but increasing daily send count in the first week is a healthy sign, not a problem. See Why is my new campaign sending so few emails?

If your bounce rate spikes over 3% in the first 24 hours, stop and investigate — usually a list quality issue. See Deliverability.

What to do after the first week

• Good reply rate (Podcast 2%+, Interview 1.5%+, AI Business Audit 1%+, Direct 0.8%+) → scale up once deliverability and sample size look healthy. Add more leads to this campaign or duplicate it for a new audience.
• Poor reply rate → don't add more volume. Review the sequence, try a different method, tighten your targeting. Adding volume to a broken campaign just burns more leads.
• AI Agent making recommendations → read them. Turn on AI campaign management if you want the agent to run some campaign-management actions.

Related

• Email Accounts — full inbox setup section
• Glossary — every term explained
• Managing an existing campaign — the 5 tabs you'll live in after launch
• Best practices — what works and what doesn't, from real campaigns